Best Project Management Courses

Project management plays a vital role in any successful org. Without the skills and tools you need to set and accomplish goals, track daily tasks, and stay within your budget, your team isn’t going to get very far. 

Luckily, you don’t need an expensive MBA to get those skills. In fact, there are courses you can take online and in-person at an affordable price that’ll show you all you need to crush your projects.

Of course, there are tons of them out there. And they come in all shapes and sizes to fill specific needs you might have. That’s why we took the time and examined dozens of project management courses and certifications. We reviewed each one against our strict standards and criteria (more on that later) and have determined the five we believe are the best ones out there.

Keep reading to see our full reviews of the five. 

The 5 Best Project Management Courses

The best five project management course are:

PMTraining – Best project management course for beginnersBrain Sensei – Most fun project management courseAlison – Best free project management courseSimplilearn – Most user-friendly interface Master of Project Academy – Best pricing

Here’s what we think of each one:

1. PMTraining – Best project management course for beginners

PMTraining is a project management certification program. They provide a full breakdown of mental models, processes, and tactics a good project manager should utilize in their work.

The course itself is broken down into 14 “milestones.” Each milestone represents a new tactic or idea around project management for you to learn.

In all, the course includes 25 hours of lessons and interactive material. It’s also all on-demand so you can learn at your own pace. 

You’ll also get features and tools such as:

Studio quality course lessonsStudy materialsPMP quizzesPMBOK Guide exercises 250+ printable PMP course slidesPrintable process mapsMock exams and quizzesAnd more

By the end, you’ll take an exam and if you pass, you’ll be officially certified as a project management professional. 

The price of the course is typically $598. But if you act now, you can get the course for $348. That’s $250 less than what you’d pay normally. 

With the purchase you’ll have 90 days access to your course. That means three months to learn the material and take the certification. Make sure you do your work during that time — otherwise you might find yourself $348 in the hole with nothing to show for it. 

2. Brain Sensei – Most fun project management course

Ever wonder what it’s like to be taught project management in an ancient dojo of Feudal Japan? Well, now you have the opportunity to do exactly that with Brain Sensei. 

They give you the opportunity to learn project management via an interactive story-based learning course. In their course, you set off on an elearning adventure set in Feudal Japan, following the journey of a female samurai “on an epic mission to become PMP or CAPM certified.”

If that doesn’t at least pique your interest a little, I don’t know what else to tell you. This sounds incredibly fun.

BrainSensei offers two courses: Their PMP prep course or their CAPM prep course. 

The PMP course costs $499.99 for six months of access. It includes 9 modules and 4 practice exams to help you prep for your certification.

With purchase of the PMP course you also get access to a Facebook group with a community of fellow project management students who will help answer any questions you might have about the process. There’s also plenty of follow up emails with handy advice to help you along the way.

The CAPM course costs $349.99 for six months of access. It includes 9 modules with 4 practice exams. LIke the PMP course, you’ll get access to a great Facebook group of students as well as the followup emails to help you along the way. This course is a little shorter (23

They offer a 100% pass guarantee or your money back. The kicker: They include a free trial of both their courses. It includes the very first module of each course to help you get a sense of the product and see if you really want to invest your time and money into it. Awesome.

3. Alison – Best free project management course

Alison offers a completely free project management course that introduces students to the world of project management.

By the end, you’ll even earn a diploma with an opportunity to get an electronic certification. 

The course itself is just 10-15 hours long, making it one of the quicker ones on this list. But that doesn’t mean it lacks substance. In fact, you’ll be able to get a primer on different project management methodologies such as Scrum and Agile, learn the full life cycle of a project, and get access to a wide variety of downloadable resources.

The course is broken down into three modules: 

Methodology, toolset, and documentationProject life cycleCourse assessment

Once you finish, Alison promises you that you’ll be able to do everything from identify the needs of your project, explain tools with proficiency such as Gantt and PERT charts, and describe different methodologies in full. 

The diplomas are awarded to anyone who graduates from the course with an 80% or higher on the assessment. Once you do so, you’ll be able to attain three types of diplomas: A digital diploma, a physical diploma, and a physical framed diploma. 

A nice thing to hang on your wall to impress visitors, no?

Like we said, this course is entirely free. However, if you want to get certified in PMP or CAMP you can also get Alison’s certification via their website. It’s a separate offering though and you’ll have to pay, but it might be nice considering you were already using their platform in order to learn about project management. 

4. Simplilearn – Most user-friendly interface

Simplilearn offers a wide variety of courses across a range of topics including:

PRINCE2 Foundation and PractitionerCAPM CertificationPMI-RMP CertificationIntroduction to Project ManagementPMP CertificationPMI-PgMP Certification

And much, much more. 

However, their PMP certification course is the one I suggest if you’re interested in getting the most out of their project management training. 

In fact, they boast a 99.9% pass rate for everyone who has taken the course. And if you’re dissatisfied, they also offer a 100% money-back guarantee. 

With 16 lessons spanning 35 contact hours/PDUs, the course gives students a comprehensive overview of the trends, tactics, practices, and skills you need to become a project manager. Simplilearn offers 7 simulation test papers to help you prepare for the big day. 

They also give you 6 actionable, hands-on projects for you to complete. Each project focuses on a specific industry such as automobile or construction. You’ll need to apply the lessons you learn in the class in order to complete the projects. This allows you to learn by doing — which is the best way to learn. 

Simplinlearn stands out for their incredibly intuitive and user-friendly interface. Even the least tech savvy person should be able to easily navigate their platform.

Prices start at $499 for their self-paced learning plan. However, they also offer a $999 online bootcamp plan that gives you all the case studies, projects, and test papers as well as live, online classes from real project management professionals. 

Want to train your company and/or team? Simplilearn also offers corporate training, giving you a customized training experience at a customized price point. 

5. Master of Project Academy – Best pricing

Master of Project Academy offers both self-paced and live online project management training. 

The goal of this course is to prepare you for your PMP certification. As such, they give you everything and the kitchen sink to help you out including:

300+ lectures35 hours of video training750+ practice questionsTest PMP certification examsSelf-paced learning25/7 student support Moderated PMP forum of fellow studentsStep-by-step instructions on how to apply for your PMP examDownloadable flash cards, sheet sheets, and other tools

It’s no surprise then that they have a 99.6% pass rate. In fact, more than 100 organizations such as Amazon, Apple, Google, Samsung, and the United States Navy have used Master of Project Academy to train their employees.

Where they really stand out is their pricing. While it’s not the lowest out there (hard to beat free courses on that front), they give you the option for a monthly subscription that allows you to cancel at any time.

The prices are as follows:

Monthly – $67Annual – $370Live Class – $1,070

The benefits of the monthly subscription are that if you complete the course under five months, you’ll be saving money when compared to the Annual or Live Class plan.

Of course, the annual subscription allows you to work at your own pace throughout the year. And the Live Class plan gives you live instructor-led lectures and classes. However, it’s hard to beat the savings that the Monthly plan potentially gives you. 

How to choose the best project management course

Choosing a good project management course is ultimately up to your needs, preferences, and skill level. 

However, there are a few different criteria that most everyone should look for in a course. Here are there things that we benchmarked each of the courses we reviewed to come up with the five best for you.

Mock testing

One of the most beneficial things you can have to prepare for your project management certification exam is the exam itself.

Short of that, the next best thing are mock exams. Doing them early and often (along with plenty of studying) helps you get ready for the kinds of questions you’ll encounter as well as the feel of them.

Practice is the single best thing you can do to get better at anything. That’s why practice tests are so important—regardless if you’re taking PMP certification, the GRE, ACT, or SAT. That’s why you’ll often see good guides and courses include plenty of mock tests with them. 

As such, be sure to look with a course that includes a few mock tests. The more the better, but even one or two will put you ahead of the game more than a person who took no mock tests.

Instructor qualifications

This one is important. They say that those who can’t do, teach. Luckily, those people are dead wrong (at least when it comes to project management).

In fact, the best instructors at project management tend to have been certified themselves with years and years of experience. After all, they know the ins and outs, as well as the surprising tactics that can really help you be a good project manager. 

When looking for a project management course, be sure to take a look at who will be teaching your course. Have they been a project manager before? For how long? Where did they work? What types of projects did they work on?

A little bit of research on this end can save you a lot of headaches later. You don’t want to be stuck with an instructor who clearly doesn’t know what they’re doing.

Contact and community

While not completely necessary, it’s always nice to have a community of fellow students and project managers available to help you when the going gets tough.

Not every project management course offers this, but when they do, it typically comes in the form of an online forum that allows you to chat, share ideas, and give each other study advice on your course. 

This is incredibly beneficial for a multitude of reasons. Perhaps the biggest one is that it can help you remain accountable. It’s easy to let things get away from you when you’re working by yourself. It’s much harder to do that when someone is keeping an eye on your progress and encouraging you to work harder. 

Conclusion

Here is our list again:

PMTraining – Best project management course for beginnersBrain Sensei – Most fun project management courseAlison – Best free project management courseSimplilearn – Most user-friendly interface Master of Project Academy – Best pricing

What you ultimately choose is up to you. If you’re a beginner though we highly recommend PMTraining.